Deal
by INMH
Summary: 3.06 Smells Like Teen Spirit. "Our deal was that she'd help me do what I need to do."


Deal

Rating: PG-13/T

Genre: Drama/Angst

Summary: 3.06 Smells Like Teen Spirit. "Our deal was that she'd help me do what I need to do."

Author's Note: PLOT-BUNNEEEEEEEEH…

Disclaimer: I don't own The Vampire Diaries. It belongs to L.J. Smith/The CW.

()()

"I can help you get back to the other side."

Vicki looks up at the woman standing over her and knows that she's a witch.

She _looks_ like a witch. Not ugly or crone-y, kind of pretty, actually, but still… Witchy. Her dress is really old-time middle-age witch-burning era, and sheer _power_ seems to crackle around her. She's blonde, eyes blue, maybe somewhere in her forties and holds her head high and her back straight.

Vicki's inclined to hear her out.

"I'm dead. I don't think you can un-kill somebody."

The witch smiles indulgently, like she had expected skepticism. "No, you can't. And if things go the way I intend them to, you'll still be dead; but people will see and hear you, you'll be able to touch things, and you can go wherever you want." Her look became meaningful. "You won't need to rely on Jeremy Gilbert or your brother Matthew to anchor you."

"Matt. Never Matthew." Vicki corrects automatically, because no one ever calls Matt 'Matthew'. Not even their mom.

"My apologies." She seems so sincere. Calm. "But you will be able to stay. Permanently."

"Will I grow old?"

"I believe so."

"And die?"

"As humans do. But this is a fairly unprecedented spell, Victoria-"

"Vicki."

"My apologies. While bringing the dead back to life is not unheard of in the world of magic, this particular spell is fairly untested. It _should_ work, but there is a margin of error."

"What kind of error? I won't, like, blow up or anything, right?" The witch smiles serenely, chuckles softly.

"Hardly. The worst is that it will not work. Ergo, you don't have anything to lo-" She stops mid-sentence and sobers slightly. "No harm should come to you."

Vicki's not stupid, she's mindful of that pause. "And what'll I be losing here?"

The witch bites her lip. "There is a girl, a- Doppelganger. Elena Gilbert."

Vicki twitches slightly, eyes darkening. "What about her?"

"The… Reasons why are unimportant, complicated, and unrelated to you." Her eyes flicker away from Vicki's, and then back. "But I need you to kill her."

Vicki's eyes widen. "Kill Elena?"

"I know she's your friend, and I know you've grown up with her. But her death is a matter of dire importance."

"You said it was unimportant."

"I said the _reasons_ for this task were unimportant, and more so in regards to you. But this must happen."

"You have something against her?"

"No." The witch actually looks a little sad. "It's tragic, but she must die. It will prevent a number of unpleasant and unfortunate things from coming to pass. It must happen." She sighs. "It isn't her fault, poor girl."

"Yeah. Poor-fucking-Elena." Vicki died a vampire, and those heightened emotions carried over into death. Elena was an uppity little bitch who toyed with Matt and then tried to stop Vicki from seeing Jeremy because _Elena just knew so much better_. Then her blonde vampire boyfriend rammed a stake through Vicki's heart, and then his douchebag brother (Otherwise known as Elena's older vampire boyfriend) made Jeremy forget all about her after burying her body in a shallow ditch. So oh yes, poor little Elena. Let's all pity her, as if she doesn't have enough of everyone's pity already.

Something like hesitation flickers in the witch's eyes, like she's starting to regret approaching Vicki. Maybe she wasn't expecting the hostility. "Calm down." She advises, and there's something like softness and sternness all at once. Curiosity makes Vicki deflate like a punctured balloon.

"Do you have kids?" She blurts out before she can stop herself. There's something positively motherly about this woman, in particular her tolerance of Vicki's outbursts and ignorance, and the way she so gently reprimanded her rage.

Surprise jumps into the witch's eyes, and then something cold, sad and startlingly _lonely_ that alerts Vicki that she's said exactly the wrong thing. "I'm sorry." She retracts before the witch can answer. The blonde woman doesn't look angry; just really, really depressed.

"I can help you with a spell." She continued, and this time her voice was a little flatter. "It will give you the temporary ability to touch and move items. You will still be invisible to many others and you will retain other ghost abilities. When you have killed Elena Gilbert and the balance has been restored, I'll help push you back over to the other side permanently."

Vicki's still a little hesitant. "And you're sure it'll work?"  
>"As I said before, it should."<p>

"And all I have to do is kill Elena?" Again, there's that flicker of wary concern behind the witch's eyes, probably regarding Vicki's "Is that all?" attitude towards killing someone she grew up with. But she nods.

"That is all."

"I can do that."

"Are you certain? There is a very big difference between the idea of killing someone and actually following through with it, Vict- Vicki."

"I can do it." And the scary part is, Vicki really thinks that she can. "We have a deal?" The witch sucks in a slow, deep breath.

"We have a deal."

-End


End file.
